WELCOME TO OUR ROOTS WIKI PAGE By: Goldie Robins, Drue Boccuti, and Bach Tong
The Music:
Hip hop was deprived out from the secular tradition music, according to Dr. Portia K Maultsby's A History of African American Music Website. In the sequence of music that originate from secular tradition also include Blue, Souls, R'N'B, Rock, etc. Therefore the structure of hip hop is very similar to the structure of Rock, R'N'B...as they have rhythmically influenced lyrics and music. However, hip hop is distinctively recognize by its upbeat music in collaboration with rapping and rhythmic lyrics.
Examples!
Original Example: Its Tricky By- Run DMC
Contemporary example: Check it out By: Nicki Minaj
Hip hop is related to the a lot of other types of genres, particularly and especially those genres from secular tradition. It's related because some hip hop songs use the beats of old music in their songs, or even re-make it. For example - Forever Young By Alphaville. Jay-z and Mr. Hudson made a song and mixed the song into it. Another example, is in the old songs. Hip-hop wasn't always around, they had to get inspiration from it somewhere like from the way the artist that sing the oldie songs. You gotta start from somewhere!
The History of Hip Hop:
Hip Hop is a type of music that was deprived out in the 1970s on the street of Bronx, NYC, NY. Originate from “poetry recited in rhythm and rhyme over recorded instrument tracks...[Hip Hop] emerged as a minimalist street sound against the backdrop of heavily orchestrated and formulaic music coming from disco clubs in early 1970s” as Dr. Portia K Maultsby - the professor of ethnomusicology at Indiana University - put it. Originally, hip hop was performing at parties and on the streets by DJs and MCs with musical instruments being carried around. After a while, hip hop enter the mainstream commercial music industry after recording companies saw the potential profits. Over time, the original genre of hip hop developed into two directions: one main stream (Rap) and the other about social consciousness (Hip hop). This event though need to be distinguished from Old school and New School hip hop, which is distinctively based on time period origin.
The emergence of hip hop also known for many people as a youth moment. In 1979, NYC commissioners proposed the construction of an expressway through the Bronx neighborhood. Consequently, the plan generated a wave of white flight, as well as local businesses. Similar to the story of Harlem Renaissance, the Bronx neighborhood experienced a dramatic change in demographic with the increase in population of people of colored and lower working class, as well as immigrants from Latin America and the Carrebean. This new demographic carried with them the socio-political struggles, as it has always been in the oppressive American Society. Oppression generated anger! Under the condition in which they were oppressed, people turned to art, especially music as a way to express their outrage.
People in the era of Hip hop that have influence on African American History:
Clarence Thomas: Born in Pinpoint, GA in 1948, Clarence Thomas was appointed as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Thomas joined the justice team as a conservative cast, whose ideas were supported by Ronald Regan, and later Gorge H. W. Bush. Relatively silent in the team, Thomas often sided with fellow conservative Antonin Scalia and makes the decisively conservative vote. Thomas is especially recognized as an originalist and has condemnation for many federal actions as the results of Supreme Court decisions in the past, including Brown vs. Board of Education, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania vs. Casey.
Maya Angelo Known as America’s most visible black female autobiographer, Maya Angelou has been a vocal voice and figure in many field, from poetry to history, and especially as a civil right activist. Her countless achievements and designations show her passions and vision for social justice. Born in St. Louis and raised in Stamp, AR, Angelou experienced the first hand in the brutality of racial discrimination. In her book, I know why the caged bird sing, Angelou used the metaphor of a caged bird being confined within the cage and the oppression that it received that evoke its singing in the midst of struggle. Barack Obama Barack Obama is the 44th president of the United State, and is also the first African American to live in White House. Born in Hawaii in 1961, Obama exceeded his ivy education in Columbia and Harvard law school, after years of living abroad with his grandmother in Indonesia. His political career made its remark when he elected into state office as a Senator in 1997. He elected into federal Senate office in 2005. The most remarkable event in his life, perhaps in US history, is when he defeated John McCain in 2008 presidential election, and became the first African American to hold the executive office. His election was viewed as the most historical and significant in African American history. Throughout his life, Obama has been fighting for liberty and equality in his community, through his job as a Community organizer for the Chicago Developing Communities Project, then as a civil right attorney before he entered the Illinois State Senate office.
Hip Hop and Social liberty and equality:
Let's analyze a hip hop song that has social context of consciousness about liberty and equality:
Song: Words I never said Artist: Lupe Flasco and Skylar Grey Genre: Hip Hop
[Skylar Grey]
It's so loud inside my head
With words that I should have said
As I drown in my regrets
I can't take back the words I never said
I can't take back the words I never said
[Lupe Fiasco]
I really think the war on terror is a bunch of bullshit
Just a poor excuse for you to use up all your bullets
How much money does it take to really make a full clip?
9/11, building 7, did they really pull it?
Uh, and a bunch of other cover-ups
Your child's future was the first to go with budget cuts
If you think that hurts, then wait, here comes the uppercut
The school was garbage in the first place, that's on the up-and-up Keep you at the bottom but tease you with the upper crust
You get it then they move you so you never keeping up enough
If you turn on TV all you see's a bunch of what the fucks
Dude is dating so-and-so, blabbering about such-and-such
And that ain't Jersey Shore, homie, that's the news
And these the same people that supposed to be telling us the truth
Limbaugh is a racist, Glenn Beck is a racist
Gaza strip was getting bombed, Obama didn't say shit
That's why I ain't vote for him, next one either
I'm a part of the problem, my problem is I'm peaceful
And I believe in the people
[Skylar Grey]
It's so loud inside my head
With words that I should have said
As I drown in my regrets
I can't take back the words I never said
I can't take back the words I never said
[Lupe Fiasco]
Now you can say it ain't our fault if we never heard it
But if we know better then we probably deserve it Jihad is not a holy war, where's that in the worship?
Murdering is not Islam, and you are not observant
And you are not a Muslim
Israel don't take my side because look how far you've pushed them
Walk with me into the ghetto, this where all the Kush went
Complain about the liquor store but what you drinking liquor for?
Complain about the gloom but when'd you pick a broom up?
Just listening to Pac ain't going to make it stop
A rebel in your thoughts ain't going to make it halt
If you don't become an actor you'll never be a factor
Pills with million side effects, take them when the pain's felt
Wash them down with diet soda, killing off your brain cells Crooked banks around the world would gladly give a loan today
So if you ever miss payment they can take your home away
[Skylar Grey]
It's so loud inside my head
With words that I should have said
As I drown in my regrets
I can't take back the words I never said, never said
I can't take back the words I never said
[Lupe Fiasco]
I think that all the silence is worse than all the violence
Fear is such a weak emotion, that's why I despise it We scared of almost everything, afraid to even tell the truth
So scared of what you think of me, I'm scared of even telling you
Sometimes I'm like the only person I feel safe to tell it to I'm locked inside a cell in me, I know that there's a jail in you
Consider this your bailing out, so take a breath, inhale a few
My screams is finally getting free, my thoughts is finally yelling through
[Skylar Grey]
It's so loud inside my head
With words that I should have said As I drown in my regrets I can't take back the words I never said
The song addresses many issue in society today that was either downplayed or conflated systematically and structurally. Some of them are highlighted in the lyrics. The song, depends on different interpretation, has different meanings. One could say that "Words I Never Said" encourages people to speak up and express their own opinion, as a way to empower and liberate themselves from the oppression and suppression that they are ubiquitously facing everyday. Others could view the song as a mean to point out the structural and systemic root causes of what people are being affected everyday. However meaning, the song does link individual role with liberty and equality, as well as recognizing the the institutional responsibility that causes all of these to happen in the first place. This was what original hip hop was about - social consciousness.
By: Goldie Robins, Drue Boccuti, and Bach Tong
The Music:
Hip hop was deprived out from the secular tradition music, according to Dr. Portia K Maultsby's A History of African American Music Website. In the sequence of music that originate from secular tradition also include Blue, Souls, R'N'B, Rock, etc. Therefore the structure of hip hop is very similar to the structure of Rock, R'N'B...as they have rhythmically influenced lyrics and music. However, hip hop is distinctively recognize by its upbeat music in collaboration with rapping and rhythmic lyrics.
Examples!
Original Example: Its TrickyBy- Run DMC
Contemporary example: Check it out
By: Nicki Minaj
Hip hop is related to the a lot of other types of genres, particularly and especially those genres from secular tradition. It's related because some hip hop songs use the beats of old music in their songs, or even re-make it. For example - Forever Young By Alphaville. Jay-z and Mr. Hudson made a song and mixed the song into it. Another example, is in the old songs. Hip-hop wasn't always around, they had to get inspiration from it somewhere like from the way the artist that sing the oldie songs. You gotta start from somewhere!
The History of Hip Hop:
Hip Hop is a type of music that was deprived out in the 1970s on the street of Bronx, NYC, NY. Originate from “poetry recited in rhythm and rhyme over recorded instrument tracks...[Hip Hop] emerged as a minimalist street sound against the backdrop of heavily orchestrated and formulaic music coming from disco clubs in early 1970s” as Dr. Portia K Maultsby - the professor of ethnomusicology at Indiana University - put it. Originally, hip hop was performing at parties and on the streets by DJs and MCs with musical instruments being carried around. After a while, hip hop enter the mainstream commercial music industry after recording companies saw the potential profits. Over time, the original genre of hip hop developed into two directions: one main stream (Rap) and the other about social consciousness (Hip hop). This event though need to be distinguished from Old school and New School hip hop, which is distinctively based on time period origin.
The emergence of hip hop also known for many people as a youth moment. In 1979, NYC commissioners proposed the construction of an expressway through the Bronx neighborhood. Consequently, the plan generated a wave of white flight, as well as local businesses. Similar to the story of Harlem Renaissance, the Bronx neighborhood experienced a dramatic change in demographic with the increase in population of people of colored and lower working class, as well as immigrants from Latin America and the Carrebean. This new demographic carried with them the socio-political struggles, as it has always been in the oppressive American Society. Oppression generated anger! Under the condition in which they were oppressed, people turned to art, especially music as a way to express their outrage.
People in the era of Hip hop that have influence on African American History:
Clarence Thomas:
Maya Angelo
Known as America’s most visible black female autobiographer, Maya Angelou has been a vocal voice and figure in many field, from poetry to history, and especially as a civil right activist. Her countless achievements and designations show her passions and vision for social justice. Born in St. Louis and raised in Stamp, AR, Angelou experienced the first hand in the brutality of racial discrimination. In her book, I know why the caged bird sing, Angelou used the metaphor of a caged bird being confined within the cage and the oppression that it received that evoke its singing in the midst of struggle.
Barack Obama
Barack Obama is the 44th president of the United State, and is also the first African American to live in White House. Born in Hawaii in 1961, Obama exceeded his ivy education in Columbia and Harvard law school, after years of living abroad with his grandmother in Indonesia. His political career made its remark when he elected into state office as a Senator in 1997. He elected into federal Senate office in 2005. The most remarkable event in his life, perhaps in US history, is when he defeated John McCain in 2008 presidential election, and became the first African American to hold the executive office. His election was viewed as the most historical and significant in African American history. Throughout his life, Obama has been fighting for liberty and equality in his community, through his job as a Community organizer for the Chicago Developing Communities Project, then as a civil right attorney before he entered the Illinois State Senate office.
Hip Hop and Social liberty and equality:
Let's analyze a hip hop song that has social context of consciousness about liberty and equality:
Song: Words I never said
Artist: Lupe Flasco and Skylar Grey
Genre: Hip Hop
[Skylar Grey]
It's so loud inside my head
With words that I should have said
As I drown in my regrets
I can't take back the words I never said
I can't take back the words I never said
[Lupe Fiasco]
I really think the war on terror is a bunch of bullshit
Just a poor excuse for you to use up all your bullets
How much money does it take to really make a full clip?
9/11, building 7, did they really pull it?
Uh, and a bunch of other cover-ups
Your child's future was the first to go with budget cuts
If you think that hurts, then wait, here comes the uppercut
The school was garbage in the first place, that's on the up-and-up
Keep you at the bottom but tease you with the upper crust
You get it then they move you so you never keeping up enough
If you turn on TV all you see's a bunch of what the fucks
Dude is dating so-and-so, blabbering about such-and-such
And that ain't Jersey Shore, homie, that's the news
And these the same people that supposed to be telling us the truth
Limbaugh is a racist, Glenn Beck is a racist
Gaza strip was getting bombed, Obama didn't say shit
That's why I ain't vote for him, next one either
I'm a part of the problem, my problem is I'm peaceful
And I believe in the people
[Skylar Grey]
It's so loud inside my head
With words that I should have said
As I drown in my regrets
I can't take back the words I never said
I can't take back the words I never said
[Lupe Fiasco]
Now you can say it ain't our fault if we never heard it
But if we know better then we probably deserve it
Jihad is not a holy war, where's that in the worship?
Murdering is not Islam, and you are not observant
And you are not a Muslim
Israel don't take my side because look how far you've pushed them
Walk with me into the ghetto, this where all the Kush went
Complain about the liquor store but what you drinking liquor for?
Complain about the gloom but when'd you pick a broom up?
Just listening to Pac ain't going to make it stop
A rebel in your thoughts ain't going to make it halt
If you don't become an actor you'll never be a factor
Pills with million side effects, take them when the pain's felt
Wash them down with diet soda, killing off your brain cells
Crooked banks around the world would gladly give a loan today
So if you ever miss payment they can take your home away
[Skylar Grey]
It's so loud inside my head
With words that I should have said
As I drown in my regrets
I can't take back the words I never said, never said
I can't take back the words I never said
[Lupe Fiasco]
I think that all the silence is worse than all the violence
Fear is such a weak emotion, that's why I despise it
We scared of almost everything, afraid to even tell the truth
So scared of what you think of me, I'm scared of even telling you
Sometimes I'm like the only person I feel safe to tell it to
I'm locked inside a cell in me, I know that there's a jail in you
Consider this your bailing out, so take a breath, inhale a few
My screams is finally getting free, my thoughts is finally yelling through
[Skylar Grey]
It's so loud inside my head
With words that I should have said
As I drown in my regrets
I can't take back the words I never said
The song addresses many issue in society today that was either downplayed or conflated systematically and structurally. Some of them are highlighted in the lyrics. The song, depends on different interpretation, has different meanings. One could say that "Words I Never Said" encourages people to speak up and express their own opinion, as a way to empower and liberate themselves from the oppression and suppression that they are ubiquitously facing everyday. Others could view the song as a mean to point out the structural and systemic root causes of what people are being affected everyday. However meaning, the song does link individual role with liberty and equality, as well as recognizing the the institutional responsibility that causes all of these to happen in the first place. This was what original hip hop was about - social consciousness.
Bibliography:
"Clarence Thomas Biography." Biography.com. Web. 02 June 2011. <http://www.biography.com/articles/Clarence-Thomas-9505658?part=0>.
Maultsby, Portia K. "A History of African American Music." Carnegie Hall. 2009. Web. 26 May 2011. <http://www.carnegiehall.org/honor/history/index.aspx>.
"Maya Angelou." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 02 June 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou>.
"Maya Angelou'' - Biography." Maya Angelou - The Official Website. Web. 02 June 2011. <http://mayaangelou.com/bio/>.
"Words I Never Said Lyrics." SongMeanings. Web. 02 June 2011. <http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858859214/>.